Karuk-Thol
Renowned across Careundel for its impenetrable Dwarblin-run vaults, Karuk-Thol is one of the most popular places on the continent to deposit gold and valuables. It is easily accessible via tram from Tulley Town. History of Karuk-Thol Excerpt from "Jonathan Tarth's History of Dwarves, Volume II: Chapter III" After Dain's exodus from Frostpeak Mountain he and his group made the great journey of traveling east of the mountains. A land where no dwarf had ever gone before. After hostile encounters with the native humans there the dwarves took toward traveling South. During this journey, which came to be known as Dain's Trek, they encountered many hardships and when after straying into elven lands Dain was once again faced with hostility. They decide it was enough. Frustrated and weary, they traveled west towards the mountains - back to what was familiar. With no way to get back to Barak-Nor, they decided on creating a new Fortress. This fortress came to be known as Karuk-Thol. ﻿ Initially Karuk-Thol was meant to be a safe haven. A place for Dain's dwarves to lain down their arms, rest their feet and go back to the old dwarven way of life. But as time progressed Dain became another example in the legend of the dwarvenhomes: whenever a Dwarven king is away from the mountainhomes for too long, he loses his mind and gains an insatiable thirst for ancestral approval. A need to earn their place in the world so far away from the mountainhomes. For a dwarf, ancestral approval comes in the way of performing deeds. Since dwarves themselves traditionally don't usually go to war it mostly comes in the way of defending the homeland, finding large amounts of gems and minerals, carving out massive halls or building large statues... the usual dwarven things. This is what Dain wanted and he soon realized that his mountains were specifically rich in gold. Dain ordered his dwarves to dig more and more gold and build more and more vaults to store it, but he was never satisfied. He wanted more, and his dwarves tried to give him more. One day Dain received word that his dwarves stumbled upon a large cave system particularily rich in gold veins. The cave system seemed to be home to a dreadful creature, and his dwarves were scared to continue digging up gold. Furious and spouting about incompetence and insubordination, Dain decided to grab his axe, go down into the mines and slay the creature himself. As he reached the bottom of the mines and he could see his dwarves surrounding the entrance, resting and whimpering. This infuriated Dain even more and as he entered the caves he cut down every dwarf he encountered trying to flee the caves. Raging and ranting, he thrashed on, ready to slay to beast that was keeping him away from his ancestral glory. It was his destiny to stand among the legendary dwarves of old and no creature was going to keep him away from that. ﻿ As he ventured deeper into the caves he could smell the foul stench of rotting bodies. The beast must be near, he thought. Eventually he stumbled upon what looked like the silhouette of the creature. Dain approached, his axe at the ready and preparing to strike as he came closer. He realized it wasn't the creature he was looking at but a pool of water. Dain cursed, and upon that the silhouette in the water moved as if tilting it's head. This startled Dain and he grabbed his axe to strike when two shimmering light appeared in what seemed to be the silhouette's face, beaming at Dain. Dain felt as if two eyes stared at him intently, piercing through his body and Dain felt his body become rigid and stiff. Moments later Dain's body turned to stone. ﻿ This marked the end of Dain's reign. After realizing their master's plight his dwarves abandoned Karuk-Thol and went on a journey to find Barak-Nor, which they soon did. There the legend of Dain found a widespread audience and Dain found what he had always wanted. Becoming known as the first dwarf to truly become one with the stone, an ancient dwarven wish, he found his recognition and place among the ancestral legends." Contemporary History of Karuk-Thol Except from "Jonathan Tarth's History of Dwarves, Volume II: Chapter V" After Dain's petrification Karuk-Thol was left abandoned and ruined. During the End Times and the Age of Extinguishing the ancient civilization of Barak-Nor too fell into ruin and the knowledge of Dain's legend and the riches of Karuk-Thol were left abandoned put to the test of time. During the Age of Rekindling the ancient fortress of Barak-Nor was rediscovered and with it the legendary riches of Karuk-Thol. A consortium of Dwarblins led by Norman and Grundy became particularily interested in Karuk-Thol and they set out to reclaim the ruined fortress. They hired Dwarven architects to rebuild the fortress and vaults and used Dwarblin engineering to create the Karuk-Thol Tram, running from Tulley Town, to Karuk-Thol and from there down into the Vaults. Dain's statue was recovered from the caves and Norman & Grundy ordered his statue be replicated three more times wielding different weapons. The four statues, including the original, now stand tall in the epic central hallway of the vaults... overlooking Uthrandirians checking in and out of their vaults every day. They even say that if someone tries to steal from Dain's gold, the statue would come back to life... raging and ranting about theft as Dain once did. After restorations were made, Norman & Grundy retrofitted the ancient vaults of Karuk-Thol and created a variety of sizes available for public use. And so the Bank of Karuk-Thol was born. Encased in impenetrable stone, the vaults of this bank has been the go-to place for Uthrandirians to store their precious weapons and gold for decades and will continue to do so for centuries to come. Never has there been a break in, theft or administrative error as the Dwarblins are very thorough in their conduct. Whenever a person makes a transaction the Dwarblins will, with great haste, transfer the gold from one person's vault to the other's vault. Dwarblin History Back in ancient Dwarven history, when there was only the Fortress of Barak-Nor the Dwarves tried to expand beyond their first fortress. They founded an outpost on a neighboring mountain, Amur-Kel, and started a colony of about 100 Dwarves. After some time the Dwarves made their first encounter with the Goblins. Being spiteful creatures, the Goblins resented the Dwarves for their enhanced physical capability. Goblins were frail creatures, physically incapable of building grand structures or dig up minerals for great lengths of time like the Dwarves could. And even though Dwarves at that time were by no means a martial race, a Goblin would always lose one on one combat with a dwarf. The Goblins did however possess much greater intelligence thnt the Dwarves and it was exactly this that caused the Goblin's frustration. Because Goblins could physically not do what they were mentally capable of conceiving they were unable to do reach their full potential. This is why took towards enslaving other races to do their work for them. They mainly enslaved the entirety of the kobold race, but they enslaved other races and creates as well when they encountered them. After amassing a formidable force, the Goblins laid siege to Barak-Nor intent on its destruction. At the time the Dwarves had no form of military as they never before had to fight another sentient race. Their martial culture was primalry aimed towards fighting creatures and demons of the depths. Having encountered many misfortunes, though, the Dwarves had learned to build safeguards. This is the very reason they started building the Fortress of Barak-Nor after the first great demon war. When the Goblin siege started, the Dwarves closed their gates and drawbridge. This made the fortress completely sealed off from the outside world and impenetrable for the Goblin army. This was good for the Dwarves inside the fortress, which was the vast majority of their civilization, but not so good for the Dwarves outside the fortress. The Goblin roamed the lands around Barak-Nor, slaying and pillaging all expressions of Dwarves and Dwarven civilization and they stayed outside the gates of Barak-Nor for decades until they eventually grew weary. When the Dwarves of Barak-Nor re-opened their gates after 75 years of isolation they found the area trashed and burned. But when they traveled to the outpost of Amur-Kel they stumbled upon a startling discovery. They found there the outpost intact with no trace of burning or pillaging, but also not a single Dwarven male. Instead, they found 50 or so women tending to their children. But they were not regular children... they were chubby and short like Dwarves but they also boasted other features. Their noses were long and their ears pointy. Their skin was also darker than that of Dwarves. These were Goblin features, and unlike Dwarven children they found these children making intricate carvings of stone and minerals. These were Dwarblins, a cross-breed of Dwarves and Goblins. Dwarven society was outraged by this discovery and the Dwarblins and their mothers were exiled from society. From there the Dwarblins led a wandering exitence, and not much is known about the Dwarblins during this time. We do know that several centuries later during the Age of Rekindling a Dwarven expedition stumbled upon a Dwarblin settlement and was impressed by their feats of engineering and architecture. Recognizing their value, the Dwarves re-integrated the Dwarblins into Dwarven society and they have been a valuable part of their society ever since. While some still argue Dwarblins are an abomination and a bastardization of two opposite races, others say that it is exactly this what gives them their strength. Combining both Dwarven and Goblin characteristics, the Dwarblins make into realization the full potential of both races. They possess the Goblin's intelligence without being spiteful and malevolent andboast the physical ability to give physical expression to their mental conceptions. While the Dwarves themselves remained masters of mining and robust architecture, carving out vast impressive halls, it is the Dwarblins that brought to Dwarven society intricate decorations, engineering and administration. It is also this that made them so suitable for the Bank of Karuk-Thol. Category:Locations